Questions of Privacy and Confidentiality after Atrocity: Collecting and Retaining Records of the Residential School System in Canada

Abstract:Record collection and record preservation have direct consequences for survivors and often determine the efficacy of the production of genocide memory. Currently, there are increased restrictions that limit our access to evidence and threaten long-term preservation of records. This article will focus on the recent decision to permanently destroy Independent Assessment Process files within fifteen years. These records contain personal disclosures of serious abuses and their destruction reflects an uneasy precedent with record conservation. While institutions strive to protect the privacy and safety of survivors and respect the use of their information, there are concerns that the state, churches and organizations obscure memory through the use or misuses of records or use the terms of privacy to protect themselves. This paper will draw on examples of conflicts within access, privacy, respect, and memory that inevitably contribute or detract from efforts in reconciliation or transitional justice.